For
winemakers like Karen Steinwachs, being small is a big deal. “I’m definitely a garagiste,” she tells
me. “Actually, more like a
micro-garagiste,” since her Seagrape label puts out a mere 300 cases of wine a
year.

The word,
garagiste, was once used derogatorily.
Established French producers would use it to insult the little guy – the
small-lot producer who did his own thing, pushed the envelope and bent the rules
of the trade – and who often worked out of his garage.

Today, for a
growing movement of winemakers around the world, the term is worn like a badge
of honor. Yes, their size is almost
always a product of necessity. These personal
passions are largely self-funded – people entering an industry notorious for
both its prohibitive costs and its very crowded field. Starting small is cheaper.

But in that
creative winemaking arena – in that world of wines that are hand-crafted,
hand-held and hand-sold – ideas tend to flow more freely, creativity tends to
fester and experimentation tends to reign supreme. As such, being a garagiste becomes a lot less
about size and more about the idea that even the oldest of traditions – making
wine – can see new and exciting interpretations.

That premise
gave birth to the Garagiste Festival four years ago, creating a platform where
small-lot California winemakers and curious consumers can meet and mingle. Today, the tasting takes place three times a
year, in Paso Robles, Los Angeles and Solvang.
The 2016 “Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure” event comes to
Solvang’s Veterans Memorial Hall next month, on Valentine’s Weekend, February
13 and 14.

The majority
of the labels that pour at Garagiste don’t have tasting rooms, many don’t have
distributors. So a focused tasting event
with the right crowd can do a lot to boost visibility and sell wine. But the consumer may be the bigger winner
here. These wines are tough to find,
either at wine shop shelves or even other events. The organizers do a nice job of making things
intimate and approachable: only 25 wineries pour each day, so you can visit
them all. Each day features a different
set of wines. And since only the owner
or winemaker, herself, is doing the pouring, it’s easy to engage them and to
speak one-on-one. This is the best way
to learn about new trends, and fresh approaches.

“I take more
chances with mine,” says Steinwachs. She’s
comparing her own Seagrape label, with its 300 cases, to her job as head winemaker
for the award-winning Buttonwood label.
She produces 8000 cases of wine a year there.

“Like stem
inclusion, which is sort of a geeky thing and not everybody likes it. If I’m making a Buttonwood wine, I might do
20% stem inclusion, for a style that’s more palate-pleasing, but I might go 80%
for Seagrape, a bit bigger. And our
chardonnay has a little bit of oak in it, because I like oaked chardonnay. So with Seagrape I can dabble more.”

Steinwachs,
who launched Seagrape in 2007 with her late husband, Dave Robinson, is pouring
yet-unreleased wines at next month’s Garagiste.

Winemaker
Larry Schaffer’s project has certainly grown since 2006, when the Tercero label
hit the market with a whopping 100 cases.
At somewhere above 2000 cases now, he’s one of the largest Garagiste
participants. The event actually
requires members make 1500 cases a year or less; Schaffer has been sort of
grandfathered in. “I still have the
mindset of a garagiste,” he insists. In
fact, one of his best wines, a fragrant and bouncy gewürztraminer, is called
The Outlier.

On Saturday,
Schaffer will be heading a seminar on mourvedre, a Rhone grape that he loves
for its potential as a blending agent, a rosé or a stand-alone wine. “It can be made into a multitude of styles,
and it can really show sense of place,” he says. A warmer climate can yield fruit-forward
mourvedre wines, he adds, while a cooler clime can make them earthier. The seminar, which will also focus on the
history of mourvedre, will also feature Zaca Mesa winemaker Eric Mohseni and
Atla Colina’s Bob Tillman. It runs from
11:30am-12:30pm. The Grand Tasting goes
from 2pm (1pm for Early Access) to 5pm.

A VIP
All-Day Access ticket, which includes the seminar, lunch and tasting, costs
$95. The tasting alone costs $55 ($75
for 1pm Early Access). Two-day passes
reflect a 20% discount.

The times
are the same on Sunday, which is Valentine’s Day; that day’s seminar is on
sparkling wine and will feature Flying Goat’s Norm Yost, Kessler-Haak’s Dan
Kessler and Halcyon Wine’s Tyler Elwell, a buzzed-about up-and-comer.

But no
matter which day you go – go both! – Schaffer insists this is a boon for
consumers. “These winemakers are
stretching their wings, starting off in new adventures, possibly doing things
differently, working with different vineyards,” he tells me. “More experimentation doesn’t mean the wine
is better or worse. But you don’t know
until you try it, and this event affords consumers that. And they are very likely to find something
they really like.”

For more
information on “Garagiste Festival: Southern Exposure,” including a couples’
discount for Valentine’s Day and overnight stay options, go to
garagistefestival.com.

by Gabe Saglie, Senior Editor, Travelzoophotos by Bob Dickeyoriginal story published in the Santa Barbara News-Press on 1/22/16Story update:Monday, February 22, 2016

Fred Brander

Santa Ynez Valley vintners are celebrating today, as the Los Olivos District becomes Santa Barbara wine country's 6th American Viticultural Area, or AVA.This milestone, which was green-lighted by the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, was more than a decade in the making.

The
AVA distinction recognizes the district’s unique ability to grow wine grapes and
highlights its unique climate and soil conditions, distinctive topography and
historical relevance.It’s a big win,
especially, for Fred Brander, who founded his Brander Vineyard in Los Olivos in
the mid 1970s.He submitted the AVA
petition in 2013, along with data from research he launched in 2005.

The
feds agreed, among other things, that the geology in the region is
special.“We have broad alluvial sand
that goes from north to south, with gentle slopes, not canyons or steep hills,
and the soils are consistent throughout,” Mr. Brander said.

Mr. Brander will be hosting an AVA celebration for industry colleagues at his winery this afternoon.

The Brander Vineyard

The
Los Olivos District covers close to 23,000 acres, about 1100 of which are
planted to wine grapes.It contains 13
bonded wineries – including legacy labels like Brander, Buttonwood and
Gainey.And there are 47 vineyards here that
grow Bordeaux varieties, mainly -- merlot, cabernet sauvignon, sauvignon blanc
-- as well as Rhone, Italian and Spanish grapes.

There
are also four towns inside the new AVA, which is unique: Ballard, Solvang,
Santa Ynez and Los Olivos.

The
AVA designation creates a potential marketing tool for wineries that source
fruit from within its borders: the right to use the phrase, “Los Olivos
District,” directly on their wine labels.Until now, they were limited to broader identifiers, like “Santa Ynez
Valley” or “Santa Barbara County.”No doubt, the caché and recognizability of the Santa Barbara name is tough to beat. But many
winemakers see this more defined ID as a way to both denote pedigree as well as
better inform the consumer.

Karen Steinwachs leading a vineyard tour through Buttonwoood

“We’ll
definitely use it, because it unifies this area,” says vintner Bob Baehner,
whose five-acre vineyard lies within the new AVA and whose elevation, at 1000
feet, marks the district’s highest point.The Baehner Fournier 2015 Rosé of Merlot, made by winemaker Steve
Clifton and set for release this spring, will carry the Los Olivos District AVA
name.

At Buttonwood,
winemaker Karen Steinwachs says no decision’s been made about label
language.But “it’s awesome to see the
AVA finally happen,” she says, “because it certainly completes the jigsaw
puzzle.”

As TV and
movie stars mingled and schmoozed during a slew of events leading up to last weekend’s Golden Globes, one particular bottle of Santa Barbara wine caught
their eye.

“We were the
only vendor serving wine, or any other beverage, in the gifting suite, and that
made us very popular,” says Shelby Sim, executive director of Visit Santa Ynez
Valley.The suite he’s referring to, produced by Secret Room Events, is
one of the many VIP opportunities afforded Hollywood A-listers during awards
season.Mr. Sim was part of a tourism
contingency that traveled to Hollywood over the weekend to promote travel to
Santa Barbara County to Tinsel Town’s elite.

“Our
presence – but also the wine – went along way to encourage a repeat or first
time visit to our area,” adds Mr. Sim.

While others
filled swag bags with face creams and gadgets, Santa Barbara’s tourism leaders
handed out a bottle of a 2013 pinot noir dubbed, appropriately, Red Carper Red.The wine was made by Peter Work of Ameplos
Cellars, and it had been bottled just the week before.But any wine aficionado will tell you: this
wine, sourced in the lucrative Sta. Rita Hills region near Lompoc and crafted
by what is the country’s first-ever winery designated organic, biodynamic and sustainable,
was definitely meant to impress.

Winemaker Peter Work

“The goal
was to make a wine that would be the perfect cocktail wine for an actor hanging
out an award reception, looking for a ‘wow’ wine,” says Mr. Work.Red Carpet Red “shows the signature of Sta.
Rita Hills with cherry cola, warm earthy notes and layers and complexity.
As we say at Ampelos, it has the perfect handshake: what the nose
promises, the palate delivers.”

Sure, Santa
Barbara’s knack for world-class pinot noir is well-known.But a pinot from Ampelos adds an extra layer
of Hollywood mystique.Mr. Work is the winemaker
behind actor Kurt Russell’s personal wine project, GoGi, and actress Kate
Hudson’s label, Hudson Bellamy, both of which have received plenty of both
consumer and industry acclaim.Ampelos’
own pinot noirs retail for $35 to $45 a bottle.

This
commemorative wine was the brainchild of Visit Santa Barbara, whose mission is
to promote travel to Santa Barbara, both city and county, and which works
closely with regional tourism groups like Visit SYV.“We wanted to give celebrities something
unique, high-end and special, and this wine fits the bill,” says Karna
Hughes,Director of Communications at
Visit SB.After all, “wine tourism is a
big part of our region.”

The wine,
which features a label by L.A.-based artist Eric Junker that looks a lot like a
vintage travel poster, was meant to pique Hollywood’s interest in Santa Barbara.“Many guests told us they’d been, and some
said they hadn’t,” says Ms. Hughes.“But
they were all very excited to hear that there are 36 tasting rooms in the city
of Santa Barbara alone, and more than 200 wineries in the county.”

Guests also
received gift certificates to a slew of local tasting rooms.

“Most of the
stars had been to Santa Barbara, but were unfamiliar with our wine region just
a few miles north in the Santa Ynez Valley,” adds Mr. Sim, who hobnobbed with
the likes of The Incredible Hulk TV icon Lou Ferrigno, The Deer Hunter actor
John Savage and La Bamba star Lou Diamond Phillips.“The foreign press was actually more familiar
with Solvang then Santa Barbara.”

There isn’t
all that much of Red Carpet Red to go around: only two barrels were produced,
which equates to about 600 bottles.But
the public will still get a chance to sip like a celeb and try this special
offering next month, and only for a limited time: February 3rd
through the 13th.Coinciding
with this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival, Visit Santa
Barbara’s “Film Feast” promotion, which aims to encourage film goers to stay,
eat and play locally, will see several local businesses sharing Red Carpet Red with
consumers.Eateries like Opal Restaurant
and C’est Cheese, for example, will pour it by the glass.And the Santa Barbara Hotel Group, which runs
properties like the Brisas del Mar and Lavender Inn by the Sea, will feature
packages that include a bottle with every stay.For information, check out SBFilmFeast.com and SantaBarbaraCA.com.

A genuine taste
of Santa Barbara? Yes, by design.“In the tasting notes for the wine, we
compare it to quintessential Santa Barbara,” adds Ms. Hughes.“Down to earth and sophisticated.”

The buzz is building
over “SOMM: Into the Bottle.”And it’s no
wonder.Its 2013 cinematic predecessor,
the documentary “SOMM,” garnered wide acclaim for its intimate peek at four men
studying to pass the nearly-impossible-to-pass Master Sommelier exam.It pulled back the curtain on this very
lucrative test (there are only 230 Master Sommeliers in the world) and gained
unprecedented access to the guild that governs it.

The new follow-up
won’t be released until February 2nd, although it’s already doing
gangbusters on pre-order, through i-Tunes.And the documentary is already sizzling on the circuit: it was the sell-out
opening night screener at November’s Napa Valley Film Festival and currently has
its stars on a media tour that includes showings in Seattle, New York City, San
Francisco and Austin.Locally, Bacara
Resort & Spa will host a screening of “SOMM: Into the Bottle” on Saturday,
January 16, at 2:30pm, followed by a Q-&-A with cast members and a
wine-and-food reception.

The key
players in both films are quick to point to out, though, that the two docs are very
different.

“The first
SOMM is a human story – a David-and-Goliath story,” says Brian McClintic, 39, the
Santa Barbara resident who’s one of those hopeful four.He ends up passing the exam on the first try
– only two of them do – and went on to help found the popular Les Marchands
wine bar in the Funk Zone.He’s now
focused on Viticole, an innovative online wine retail venture launching this
spring.

In an
interview this week, he adds, “This new SOMM is a more
intellectual documentary than the first one, more educational than personal. “

“The first
film is really not about wine,” says director Jason Wise, 35.“Now, it’s a story all about wine, which is a
daunting task, but told from the perspectives of sommeliers.”

Mr.
McClintic, in fact, returns as one of several sommeliers (including major
players like Fred Dame and Rajat Parr) who offer industry insight into things
like point scores, wine prices and restaurant wine lists.His scenes were shot over two days in late
2014 and early 2015 at both the Les Marchands store and Bien Nacido Vineyard in
the Santa Maria Valley.That’s a big
change from the first film, which followed his exam prep over four years, with
a reality show-style focus on the two weeks that led up to test day.

Brian McClintic on location at Bien Nacido Vineyards in the Santa Maria Valley

Brian McClintic on location at Santa Barbara's Les Marchands

“SOMM: Into
the Bottle,” though, succeeds on its own creative and artistic merits, which
make this a meaningful movie.

The
90-minute film is broken down into 10 chapters, which enhances pacing and makes
the subject matter easy to digest.“A
restaurant wine list can be so confusing, it’s such a chaos thing, that it’s
really a storybook that only certain people know how to read,” says Mr. Wise,
referring to sommeliers.“So that’s how
we approached the movie – like a storybook with chapters.”

SOMM director Jason Wise

The sections
tackle practical consumer topics and offer myriad perspectives.For example, in Chapter 6, “The Cost,” Mr.
McClintic calls the $20-to-$50 price point a sweet spot for wine.“You know it’s hand crafted and that a lot of
work and effort went into it,” he says in the film.

In Chapter
8, “The Point Scores,” Mr. McClintic breaks with many fellow experts who bash
the popular system of judging wines on a 100-point scale; he credits
publications like Wine Spectator and critics like Robert Parker with stoking
his curiosity and being “a huge part of my beginning” in the wine industry.

Other
chapters explore the critical roles played by winemakers and the weather.Among the film’s biggest merits is its look at
wine’s role throughout history, from Caesar’s requirement that his soldiers prepare
for battle by drinking three liters of wine per day to the fascinating impact
that back-and-forth border battles between France and Germany have had on
winemaking just in the last century.“History naturally forges the great wines of the world,” says Mr.
McClintic in the film.

DRC's Aubert de Villaine

California’s
own fresh take on winemaking is explored, although much of the film delves into
the Old World wines of Europe, introducing the viewer to wineries that stretch
back many generations and diving deep into centuries-old cellars.Mr. Wise succeeds, once again, in giving the
viewer unprecedented access.Several
minutes are spent with legendary vintner Aubert de Villaine at Burgundy’s Domaine
de la Romanée Conti, which Mr. McClintic describes in the doc as the best
expression of pinot noir in the world and “the holy grail of winery
appointments.”

Mr. Wise
also manages several rare, if not anxious, moments in which rare bottles
that are coveted within the industry – like a 1969 Domaine Jean-Louis Chave
Hermitage from France’s Northern Rhone and a 100-point 1962 Bin 60A Penfolds
Cabernet-Shiraz blend from Australia – are popped open for the first time on
camera.

The viewer’s
vicarious enjoyment is enhanced even further by sweeping cinematography that
was shot using a prototype of Sony’s high-end 35mm 4K Camcorder, described by
Mr. Wise as “one of the best cameras in the world.”

Filming on location in Alsace, France

In the end,
Mr. Wise’s new film delivers what the title promises: it takes viewers deep
“into the bottle” for an up-close look at the layers – the many people, places and
circumstances – that influence wine, and at the nuanced rubrics that
dictate how we enjoy it.

The January
16th Santa Barbara screening of “SOMM: Into the Bottle” will take
place from 2:30 to 6pm at Bacara Resort’s 211-seat surround-sound screening
room.Mr. Wise and Mr. McClintic will
both take part in the audience Q-&-A that follows.The event will conclude with a gourmet food
reception by Executive Chef Vincent Lesage and tastings of several Santa
Barbara area wines, including Palmina, Silver, Pence, Presqu’ile and Lucas &
Lewellen.Tickets are $80 and can be
purchased through this link to the Bacara website.

About Me

Welcome to the online home of Gabe Saglie. Gabe is Senior Editor for Travelzoo and a respected travel contributor for dozens of TV news programs and national shows. Gabe is also a longtime wine and food writer based in Santa Barbara, California, where he lives with his wife, two boys and daughter.